Golf bag



g- 1933. G. H. HI LE8 I 1,920,308

GOLF BAG Filed Jan. 20, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1933. G. H. HILES 1,920,308

GOLF BAG Filed Jan. 20, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 iii Patented Aug. 1, 1933 "I'TED STATES GOLF BAG George H. Hiles, Long Beach, Calif.; Leta S. Hiles executrix of said George H. Hiles, deceased Application January 20, 1930. SerialNo. 422,004

3 Claims. (01. 1501.5)

. This invention relates togolf bags designed to hold golf clubs whether the bag is being carried on the golf links or is being used for transporting the clubs from city to city.

One of the most important objects of the in-.

vention is the protection of the golf clubs and, particularly, protection of the shafts and the heads of the wooden clubs. The ordinary golf bag is a cylindrical container closed at its bottom end and open at its top end and. the heads of the clubs protrude from the open end. Ordinarily the shafts of all of the clubs are bunched together thus entailing that when one club is withdrawn fromthe bag the shaftthereof frictionally engages the other shafts, thus wearing and destroying the leather handles with which the shafts are provided.

Furthermore, the clubs being bunched, the metal heads of the iron clubs often strike the wooden heads of the wooden clubs, thus nicking or marring said wooden heads. An effort has heretofore. been made to separate the-clubs at the mouth of the bag by use of a disc having notches in its edges, but no protection is pro.- vided for the shafts and, particularly, the handles.

Another object is to facilitate selection of the particular club that the player desires to use at any particular time. When the clubs are bunched, it is difficult to extract from the bag the desired club and by the use of this invention the clubs are kept in their individual pockets and the clubs may be arranged in a particular order so that it can be remembered easily that a particular iron or wood club occupies a certain position in the bag.

Another important object is the construction of a golf bag in which certain articles of clothing may be carried, since the golfer often desires to carry with him from place to place his golf shoes, sweater and perhaps other articles of attire.

Another important object is to provide for the club heads resting upon the margin of the mouth of the bag, when the bag is not in use on the links, in order that the weight of the club heads will not be imposed on the shafts, as results in the ordinary golf bag when the bag is stood on end. When the clubs stand on end with the handles down and the heads unsupported, the eccentric weight imposed on the shafts tends to produce a permanent bend in the shafts, especially if said shafts should be of wood. By the use of this invention, the bottom of the bag may be opened so as to allow the shafts to project below the bottom of the bag with the heads of the clubs resting on the margin of the mouth of the bag.

Another important object is the simplicity and inexpensiveness of construction.

Another important object is to facilitate the carrying of extra balls and articles of clothing without destroying the smoothness and symmetry of the outer face of the bag.

Another object is comfort in carrying the bag.

'Other objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a golf bag constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention, the parts being shown as they are when the bag is being carried on the links. Golf clubs are shown in the bag.

Figure 2 is a side view of a golf bag showing the parts as they appear when the bag is closed and locked.

Figure 3 is a view looking at the inner face of the bag when the bag is open.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the bag when said bag is closed.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of the bag when said bag is open at its upper end for use.

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view on the line indicated by 6-6, Fig. 3.

The body. 11 of the bag is constructed of any suitable flexible material, such as leather or fabric, and the inner face of said bag is provided with tubular pockets 12 which are open at both ends and which extend to near one end of the body at one end and at the other end stop considerably short thereof.

The pockets 12 may be made in any desired manner and, in the present instance, the pockets are formed as follows: The body i1 comprises an outer member 13 and an inner member 14 which is shorter than the member 13. The member 14 is stitched at 15 to the member 13 and the member 14 is full so that between certain of the rows of stitching 15 the member 14 rounds out to form approximately three sides of the pockets 12, the other sides of said pockets being formed by the inner face of the member 13. The pockets 12 are somewhat larger in diameter than the shafts of the clubs so that said shafts can be easily iii-- serted in and withdrawn from the pockets without undue friction.

When the body 11 is opened out, as in Fig. 3, it is substantially rectangular in shape and may be laid out fiat.

Besides the pockets 12, the members 13, 14 also form a longitudinally extending pocket 16 that is of somewhat larger cross section than the pockets 12 so that golf balls, indicated at 'A, may be carried in said pocket 16.

The pocket 16 is preferably provided with a drawer or slide 17 in which some of the balls A may be placed so that by pulling out the drawer a ball will be exposed and may be readily taken from the drawer. Presently, the drawer 17 is provided with'disc end walls 18, 19 and with a semi-circular wall 20 connecting the end walls. The wall 19 is of larger diameter than the wall 20 so as to engage the upper end of the pocket 16, thus limiting downward movement of the drawer. The outer face of the wall 19 may be provided with a suitable handle 21 whereby the drawer may be readily pulled upwardly when it is desired to remove a ball therefrom. In the present instance, the larger pocket 16 is shown along the center line of the inner face of the bag, but it is to be understood that this pocket may be otherwise located.

The bottom end of the pocket 16 is preferably closed, as indicated at 22, so that the balls in the lower portion of said pocket will not discharge therefrom when the bag is open. The upper portion of the body 11 constitutes a hood 23 which, when extended, as in Fig. 2, functions to cover over the projecting ends of the clubs, which are indicated at B in Fig. 1.

The hood 23 may be constructed in any suitable manner and, in the present instance, it constitutes a continuation or part of the outer body member 13. This hood 23 may be folded back, when the bag is being carried on the links, so that the club heads are exposed and can be readily grasped for withdrawal of the clubs from the bag.

A suitable means is provided for fastening the body 11 in its folded or closed position and, preferably, this fastening means will be of the interlocking finger type already used extensively for closing tobacco pouches, handbags, etc. This type of fastener is generally known as "zipper.

The zipper strips 24 extend, in this instance, substantially around the entire margin of the body 11 and, when the bag is open, the zipper slide, indicated at 25, is positioned centrally of the bottom margin of the body 11. To fasten the bag closed it will be folded longitudinally, as indicated in Fig. 2, and the slide 25 will be then moved along the bottom margin, thence along the longitudinal margins, thence along the top end margin toa point at the center of the upper end of the body 11. The slide 25 is provided with an eye 26 and another eye 27 is provided substantially at the center point of the upper end margin so that a padlock 28 can be passed through the eyes 26 and 27 when it is desired to lock the bag closed. Other eyes 29 are provided at the upper comers of the hood 23 so that when the hood is folded back in open position said eyes 29 may be caused to register with the eye 26 of the slide, when said slide 26has been operated into a position approximately at the level of the upper end of the pockets 12. To cause this registration of the eyes 29, 26 and at the same time lower the hood to the level of the upper ends of the pockets 12, said hood may be rolled or doubled on itself, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, whereby approximately the upper half of the hood is disposed between the lower half of the hood and that portion of the body 11 that lies adjacent to the hood. When the eyes 26, 29 are thus registered, the padlock will be 0 8 8121 with them, thus functioning to hold the bag closed up to the hood and also to hold the hood snugly in place on the face of the bag.

It may be advisable, especially when using-some materials for the construction of the body ii, to provide stiffening members 30 along the longitudinal margins of the body 11. These stiffening members are approximately of the same length as the pockets 12 and do not extend up into the hood, since the hood must fold. The stiffening members 30 may be of any suitable material and form, as for example, metal tubes. They may be made, for example, of aluminum so as to secure lightness.

The opposite longitudinal margins of the body 11 are provided with the ordinary type of handles 31 which, when brought together, may be gripped by one hand. Also the opposite longitudinal margins of the bag are provided with shoulder straps 32 which, likewise, may be brought together over the shoulder of the carrier of the bag.

The foregoing will make clear the construction and operation of the invention and, briefly stated, the operation is as follows; Assuming that the bag is in the open position shown in Fig. 3 and that the shafts of the various clubs are inserted in the pockets 12, the golfer will lay on the inner face of one-half of the area of the body 11 such articles of wearing apparel as he desires to take with him and he will then fold the other half of said area over the first mentioned half and will draw the slide of the zipper from its position at the lower end of the body along the zipper strips until the slide is positioned at the upper end with its eye 26 in register with the eye 26, whereupon he will engage said eyes with the padlock. The bag is now in condition to be transported to the country club.

When the golfer has reached the country club, he opens the bag by a reversal of the herelnbefore described operations and removes the articles of apparel therefrom or, if the day is warm and he desires to have his sweater in the bag so that he may don it at any time, he will allow the sweater to remain. Then, while the bag is open, he will fold the hood outwardly into a double fold, as hereinbefore described, and he will then fold the bag longitudinally and operate the zipper slide along the zipper strips to a position adjacent to the upper ends of the pockets 12, thus bringing the eye 26 into registration with the eyes 29, and he will then pass the padlock through said eyes.

The bag is now in the condition illustrated in Fig. 1 with the heads of the clubs protruding from the bag. He, or his caddy, may then carry the bag in the usual manner around the links.

It will be noted that the bag has no stiffening elements in it excepting the members 30 and that, consequently, the entire bag is quite. soft and flexible and has no hard portions to come into contactwith the club shafts, thereby avoiding excessive friction on the shafts and wear and injury to the club grips.

It will be noted that any particular club can be 140 very readily selected for use from the bag since the clubs are individually supported in the bag.

It is the present custom to number the iron clubs consecutively from one up and, accordingly, se-

lection of the proper club may be facilitated by 145 placing the clubs in numerical order in the respective pockets. Thus, when the golfer asks his caddy for a Number 5 iron, for example, the caddy knows instantly what position that particular club occupies in the bag, even without looking at the blade of the club, which blade usually has the number stamped on it.

To close the bag, the golfer will perform the foregoing described operations in reverse order, first opening the bag for the reception of the wearing apparel and then closing it completely from end to end.

It is customary, when the clubs are stored by the golf professional, to lay the bag on its side in a rack constructed for that purpose. This avoids such bending of the shafts as would tend to permanently distort them, especially if the shafts are of wood. Many golfers, however, keep their clubs in their own possession, either storing them in their lockers or keeping them at home, and for such golfers this invention has an additional advantage for the bag may be unfastened and hung upright, either folded 10ngitudinally or open, as in Fig. 3.

If desired, the bag may be hung by the eyes 29.

It will be seen that when the bottom of the bag is thus open, the shafts of the longer clubs may project below the bottom of the bag to an extent that permits the heads of the longer shafted clubs to rest on the upper end of the bag, or the upper ends of the pockets, the same as those clubs, as for example, a putter, that have shafts that are shorter than the pockets 12. This effects support of the clubs entirely by their heads and avoids warping or bending the shafts as might occur if the clubs were stood with their grips on the bottom of the bag, as is necessary with the bags now in use when said bags are placed upright.

It will be noted that there are no stiffening members or metal rings incorporated in the body of this bag, as has been the practice in bags of former construction and that, accordingly, when this bag is being carried it presents a substantially fiat surface that lies against the side of the carrier, thus being more comfortable to carry than bags of former construction which, being of cylindrical construction, have only a line contact with the side of the carrier of the bag.

Furthermore, caddies very frequently are called upon to carry double or, in other words, to carry two bags. It is the custom of the caddy, when carrying two bags, to carry them on the left side suspended from the left shoulder so that the clubs can be conveniently removed from the bags by his right hand. Because of this bag being flat, when carried, two of them will lie close together in vertical planes that pass through the shoulder of the carrier close to the place where the shoulder straps rest upon the shoulder, thus making it much easier to carry double, since cylindrical bags of former construction, when carried double, entails that the outermost bag pulls outwardly on the shoulder strap, thus tending to pull said shoulder strap off the shoulder. In fact, it sometimes occurs that caddies are called upon to carry three bags and when this is the case, the three bags constructed according to this invention can be carried as conveniently as two cylindrical bags of the old construction.

While the invention is illustrated and described as being embodied in a golf bag, it is to be understood that certain features are applicable to bags for other purposes than the carrying of golf clubs. For example, the pockets may be omitted, if the bag is to be used for other purposes, and such construction is embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A golf bag comprising a flexible body provided with longitudinally extending pockets for the individual clubs, said pockets being open at both ends, and a means to releasably close the bottom end of the bag to permit the shafts of the longer clubs to project below the bottom of the bag when the bag is hung up.

2. A golf bag comprising a flexible approximately rectangular body adapted to be folded lengthwise and provided with separate longitudinally extending pockets, said pockets open at both ends, and means to releasably close the bot tom end of the bag when the body is folded, enabling the bottom of the bag to be left open to permit the shafts of the clubs to be passed downwardly below the level of the bottom.

3. A golf bag comprising a flexible approximately rectangular body adapted to be folded lengthwise to form an elongated bag, separate longitudinally extending pockets for the golf clubs secured on the inner side of the bag, zipper strips extending in opposite directions from the center of one end margin of the body along said margin and along the respective longitudinal margins of the body, a zipper slide mounted on the strips located at a point near the upper end of the bag when the zipper strips are interlocked with each other, the upper portion of the body adjacent the zipper slide being folded and hanging down to form a collar at the upper end of the bag said zipper strips extending continuously along the margins of said body at said collar and cooperating with the zipper slide to enable the collar to be folded upwardly to close the upper end of the bag by running the zipper slide to the upper ends of the zipper strips.

GEORGE H. HILES. 

